1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to treating body tissue, particularly to treating body tissue by altering the shape or volume of that body tissue using energy or substances deployed from an interstitial location in the body.
2. Related Art
Human beings are subject to a number of medical disorders, including those in which a body structure is subject to unwanted features or is otherwise dysfunctional. The body structure can for example include muscular tissue, mucosal tissue, gastro-intestinal tissue, lumen walls, stenotic locations in lumens or interstitial locations, or tumors or other cancerous or precancerous conditions. The unwanted features can for example include being distended or engorged, being unduly large or small, being misshapen, having cysts or tumors, or having undesirable growths. Other dysfunctions can include aneurysms, diverticuli, fissures, hemorrhoids, tumors, or simply an inability for the body structure to perform its proper function.
Medical disorders of these kinds can be particularly acute or discomfiting when they involve important areas of the body, including the cardiovascular system, the gastro-intestinal tract, the genito-urinary system, the pulmonary system, the vascular system, or other body systems. For a first example, disorders involving body structures in the gastro-intestinal tract can lead (at a first end thereof) to inadequate operation of the esophageal sphincter, to gastro-intestinal reflux, or to Barrett""s condition. For a second example, disorders involving body structures in the gastro-intestinal tract can lead (at a second end thereof) to fecal or urinary incontinence.
One problem in the known art is that treatment of such disorders can involve relatively invasive and labor-intensive surgery. This has the drawbacks of incurring relatively high expense, of incurring relatively high risk (in some cases) of damage to important nerves, and of producing iatrogenic effects that are relatively hazardous to the patient.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for treatment for body structures, especially internal body structures involving unwanted features or other disorders, that does not require relatively invasive surgery, and is not subject to other drawbacks noted with regard to the known art. This advantage is achieved in an embodiment of the invention in which a relatively minimally invasive catheter is inserted into the body, treatment of the body structures is applied using the catheter, and the unwanted features or disorders are relatively cured using the applied treatments. The applied treatments can include application of energy or substances, including application of energy (such as of radio frequency energy, microwave energy, or laser or other electromagnetic energy) or substances (such as collagen or other bulking, plumping, or shaping agents; saline or other energy-receiving electrolytes; astringents or other debulking, reducing, or shaping agents; antibiotics or other bioactive, chemoactive, or radioactive compounds). More than one applied treatment can be performed, either in conjunction, in parallel, or seriatim, so as to achieve a combined effect more substantial than any one individual such applied treatment.
The invention provides a method and system for treatment for body structures, especially internal body structures involving unwanted features or other disorders, that does not require relatively invasive surgery, and is not subject to other drawbacks noted with regard to the known art. A relatively minimally invasive catheter is inserted into the body, treatment of the body structures is applied using the catheter, and the unwanted features or disorders are relatively cured using the applied treatments.
In a preferred embodiment, the applied treatments can include application of energy or substances, including application of energy (such as of radio frequency energy, microwave energy, or laser or other electromagnetic energy) or substances (such as collagen or other bulking, plumping, or shaping agents; saline or other energy-receiving electrolytes; astringents or other debulking, reducing, or shaping agents; antibiotics or other bioactive, chemoactive, or radioactive compounds).
In a preferred embodiment, more than one applied treatment can be performed, either in conjunction, in parallel, or seriatim, so as to achieve a combined effect more substantial than any one individual such applied treatment.
In preferred embodiments, the unwanted features or other disorders include one or more of the following:
Barrett""s disease, other growths on the esophageal lining or near the esophageal sphincter, or otherwise at an ingestive end of the gastro-intestinal system;
fecal incontinence or other failures of the musculature or sphincters at an excretory end of the gastro-intestinal system; or
urinary incontinence or other failures of the musculature or sphincters at an excretory end of the gastro-intestinal system.